Goonhilly satellite station marks 60th anniversary

Some of the event has been taking place next to event Goonhilly's first dish, Arthur, a Grade II listed structure

Workshops and music are being hosted at Goonhilly Earth Station as part of celebrations of the Cornwall satellite dish site's 60th anniversary.

The site, on the Lizard, is the world's only commercial deep space station and has been involved in receiving and transmitting many historic events.

Bosses said the Goonhilly 60 event on Saturday was marking the site's history and current work.

Its work had also helped the space sector expand in Cornwall, they added.

Goonhilly

• Goonhilly earth satellite station was built by the GPO on Goonhilly Downs at a cost of £650,000

• The site was chosen because it was flat, giving a clear view of the horizon, and its hard rock surface could take the weight of the 1,118-tonne dish - officially named Antenna 1, but nicknamed Arthur

• Arthur is a 26m (85ft) wide dish and a Grade II listed structure

• On 11 July 1962, pictures from America were sent via the Telstar satellite to Goonhilly

• The project led the way to modern satellite communications

Over the years, it grew to 160 acres and had more than 60 dishes which handled computer data, fax transmissions, video conferencing, telex communications, TV signals and about 10 million telephone calls a week.

It played a key role in the broadcasting of events in the UK, including several Olympic Games, the Apollo 11 Moon landing, the boxing matches of Muhammad Ali fights, and 1985's Live Aid concert.

Satellite operations ended in 2006 and the site was closed by BT in 2008.

Private company Goonhilly Earth Station Limited (GES) began to buy the site near Helston in 2011 to create a space science centre for space exploration and science research, finishing its takeover in 2014.

GES's founder, technology entrepreneur Ian Jones, said the site had proved its worth by still "attracting a lot of international interest and business", and had helped the Spaceport Cornwall operation near Newquay.

He said: "Having that that space expertise in the county has been really vital.

"We've been really supportive of the whole Spaceport programme, and it's really galvanised the county in terms of its economic strategy that is creating jobs in the space industry and digital sectors, as well as its helping to create an amazing technology cluster".